What You Mean to Me
by Nielawen
Summary: Obi/Ani. Post TPM. Obi-Wan sits at Anakin's bedside and comes to contemplate thoughts and feelings that he is never able to express out loud to his Padawan. Short and sweet!


A/N : I can't really explain what this is. I've always wanted to write something on the bond between master and apprentice— Obi-Wan and Anakin, in particular. Whether or not this is truly finished, I don't know. It's possible that it will be included in something I've started, if I get enough will power to stick to it!! Tell me what you guys think—

I don't own ANYTHING Star Wars… 'cept my poster and Anakin and Padmé action figures… o_O He he he… 

What You Mean to Me

            Obi-Wan entered Anakin's dorm in silence. Kneeling at his bedside, he leaned against the wall that was part of the cramped room, just watching and listening to Ani's steady breathing and the placid scene of his slumbering form. Beneath the thick blankets that kept his body warm he looked tiny… so childlike and preciously innocent.

            He was ten. As much as both he and Obi-Wan wanted him to be a child, he wasn't. He would never be one again. He was now the wisest of his age, with a destiny to forever be the greatest.

            His little Padawan would be a Jedi. And he'd be alive to watch him grow into one, and would be there when he took his final steps to becoming a Knight. Not like Qui-Gon. Force, help him if he ever became so helpless where he had to abandon Anakin that way.

            Anakin's breathing quickened to sharp intakes of breath as he felt Obi-Wan's troubled thoughts, and he shuffled his feet in a way that pulled the blankets past his waist. His eyebrows creased in deep concentration until Obi-Wan's hand came down upon his forehead with a touch as light and gentle as a feather. He settled, and his dimples in his cheeks were shadowed by the tiniest trace of a serene smile that was hardly there.

            Obi-Wan caressed his hand along his brow line. Anakin did not stir. He had never been this close with Anakin. Already they were like brothers… father and son. Tranquility like this was almost unheard of— by Obi-Wan, at least. He felt it was useless…Force, he couldn't even begin to imagine what love and security had been left behind with Shmi…

            He froze in realization.

            "…I've pushed you, haven't I?" His hand fell to the bed, and he continued in a whisper. "Your exhaustion comes from the heavy burdens I've laid upon you in such little time. And somehow I think I've hurt you by it."

            He pressed his fingers to his own lips. He tread deep down in his mind, even his heart. There was an answer for it. He wouldn't have been appointed the task of Anakin's training had he not possessed what the child would need. And without the ability to see and build in him what Obi-Wan pictured in his mind— out of competitive ambition or pride— how could the boy ever truly be what he was meant to be…? Was that his ideal purpose for being so driven?

            He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, leaning forward eagerly. "I want to teach you everything. There isn't one thing I don't want you to know. You'll be so great. You're…" He smiled as the boy shivered, and pulled the sheets to his chin. He once again reflected the two very different worlds Ani had already been introduced to. There would be more. Obi-Wan would take him through every single one as long as he had the power to do so. He gazed at the boy's level with a new twinkle in his eye. "You're going to make me so proud. I feel it." 

            Obi-Wan stood, his eyes never leaving little Ani's face. "Peace, knowledge, and serenity. Always, Anakin."

            He backed away, unable to stop watching his very young apprentice in serene slumber. It seemed to bring him to peace, also. What a brilliant power the aura of a child was…

            He chuckled under his breath, unable to point out why he had done so. Slowly he approached Anakin's bed once more, looming over him in the darkness with only the crack in the doorway shedding light upon his face. And he hesitated, his smile washed away.

            Tears built up in Anakin's eyes. One escaped, streaming down his cheek and dampening the pillow. His face was without expression— only for the quivering of his lower lip.

            His mouth open, ready to call out to him if necessary, Obi-Wan reached out a hand, pulled away, and cupped his chin, rubbing the light stubble that had grown there. For a moment, he wanted to take Anakin in his arms, rock him, wipe his tears…

            All these seemed unnecessary, but wiping those rivers of sorrow from his face. He moved closer and bent down, taking his finger and gently trailing over the remnants of the single tear that had fallen. With a second more, he bent lower, and planted the lightest kiss on the child's forehead that wrinkled in distress.

            "No fear within," he recited to himself. "Let the pain be inevitable, and the suffering optional. Courage will never be the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. I'm never leaving you in the dark. But I know you're strong enough to survive just that. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. With your strength of heart you have that ability." He took a moment of deliberate silence, prepared to wipe his own tears because he felt a state of weakness all of a sudden. "If only you could see the you that is a part of me, maybe you could see inside yourself what is so radiant…"

            He stood to his full height, took in a breath.

            _I am forever changed by who you are and what you mean to me…_

With that, and a last look upon the Chosen One, he was gone.

A/N : Thanks for reading, don't hesitate to review!!!


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